Bated breath for candidates as KCPE results out next week

KCPE candidates of Moi Primary School in Nakuru carry desks to their examination room on October 29, 2018.There are 249 candidates. [Harun Wathari, Standard]

The results of this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination may be out next week.

Based on its previous commitment to parents and the candidates, the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) could release the results by Wednesday.

Knec chairman George Magoha recently said the council had made critical adjustments in the marking process, and noted the results may be out “much earlier” than last year. The 2017 KCPE results were released on November 21.

Speaking at the launch of this year’s national examinations at Pangani Girls’ High School, Prof Magoha hinted that the council had invested in technology that will enhance marking, tallying and swift relaying of results this year.

Machine tallying

“We must again prepare to receive results early because of what we have done to Insha and Composition,” Magoha said, adding: “If we want, we may even release the results after three days.” 

Sources at Knec said several test-runs had been done on the new technology. The new marking machines, known as Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), have been fine tuned for speedy marking of the Kiswahili Insha and English Composition papers. OMR technology captures marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using specialised scanning. OMR marks up to 10,000 scripts per day. Scripts are marked in batches of 100 and 200 sheets. The marked Insha and Composition scripts will be scanned though the machines to accurately tally marks and make entries in record time, cutting down the marking process. The manual tallying and entry of Insha and Composition marks was cited as the reason release of the examinations delayed.

“With the new advancements, the process will be faster and results will be out earlier,” said an aide at the Ministry of Education. Knec contracted 5,834 examiners to mark the scripts. The examiners reported to the various marking centres on November 8 ahead of the first briefing the following day.

Insiders said marking of the multiple-choice questions started immediately the KCPEexaminations ended. If the Knec promise stands, then marking of all the multiple-choice questions, Insha and Composition should have been completed and results taken through moderation by this weekend. Now, attention shifts to the results as Kenyans await to see if the giants will bounce back or whether new schools will hit the chats.

Last year, Freds Academy in Meru County, which registered 55 candidates, emerged the best school nationally, posting a mean score of 419.

Bethany Christian Academy of Kwale County, which had 15 candidates, emerged the second best school nationally, posting a mean score of 416.

Crystal Hill Academy (56 candidates) and Mogotio Little Friends (24 candidates) of Baringo County each posted a mean score of 408 to emerge position three nationally.

Chelsa Academy of Bomet closed the top five best schools nationally. The school registered 26 candidates and posted a mean score of 407.

Kenyans will also be anxious to analyse the general performance of the individual candidates. Last year, Goldalyn Kakuya of St Anne Lubao in Kakamega County scored 455 out of the possible 500 marks to emerge top nationally.

Murega Sharon Nkatha of Kathigiri Boarding School in Meru County scored 447 marks to emerge the second best candidate overall.

Mwangi Eugene Mburu of Effort Junior academy, Okuthe Mary Giovanni Tonnuci of Chumo Education Centre, Chaka Ruth Mose of Bethany Christian Academy and Amboka Victor Wanyungu of St Mary’s Ruaraka all scored 446 marks to tie in position three.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed hinted at the end of the KCPE examinations that the results will be more accurate. She said that all the candidates were able to see the contents of the examinations once they were opened by the relevant officials at the start of each paper. “This means all candidates sat the examinations on a level playground,” said Amina.

Amina said these year’s KCPE examinations were administered with utmost precision and that no questions leaked.

“The measures we spelt out to ensure the exams are credible and of high integrity were enforced in 99.9 per cent of the centres,” said Amina. Some 64,758 invigilators, 27, 025 supervisors were deployed to administer the examinations.

Kenya National Parents Association official Nicholas Maiyo said the early release would be welcome news to all parents. He said the move would help parents plan on form one expenditure. “Parents will know schools their children will go early enough and start to plan,” he said.

PS Belio Kipsang said parents will know form one slots of their children before Christmas. Kenya Primary Schools Association chairman Shem Ndolo said: “Parents will plan well as children will have enough time to prepare psychologically for secondary school.”  

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